When it gets hot, you need to seek shelter. Every country usually has its own shelters; you just have to know how to find them and dive into them headfirst, head first so that it arrives first and the rest of the body stays slightly outside if anything—after all, the heat mostly gets to your head, and that is what you need to think about first.

In Armenia, fortunately, there is space for the entire body. Lake Sevan is one of these places, situated at a maximum altitude of 1,900 meters. When you arrive in winter, you have to be very careful, or you risk flying away like an ownerless umbrella. In summer, however, it is different: you can dive right in and stay grounded without any particular effort.

Around the lake there are villages; coming closer, there are shores; on the shores, there is sand or pebbles. It depends on where you go, on which bank. The mountains serve as a backdrop because they have always been there for years; they went there and stayed because they were looking for coolness, ultimately surrounding the lake all around like a group of hikers around a campfire. To look at, they keep you company, appearing as particularly lively, animated mountains. You can admire them through a window frame, through the old scrap iron abandoned on the shore, or from the changing cabins. From the changing cabins, they produce an even more ancient impression, because inside you usually undress, making you feel as if you were in prehistoric times: the connection is greater.

Thank goodness for Lake Sevan. How many Armenians give thanks for this immense, refreshing puddle—one of the largest high-altitude alpine freshwater lakes in the world.

One of the beaches of Sevan.

The Writers' House. In the background, Sevanavank Monastery.

View from the balcony of the Writers' House.

A boat waiting for customers

Children are playing on a merry-go-round next to a beach cabin.

Boats cross Lake Sevan.

There are many spots where you have everything you need to organize a barbecue.